Editor's Note: Spokane Faith & Values has a new feature called “Ask An Atheist” where readers are invited to submit question to our atheist writers. Here's the first question that came in, and a response from one of our atheist writers.
Q. What's the difference between an Atheist and a New Atheist?
A. The terminology New Atheist popped up with the efforts of popularizing writers like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, reflecting the sudden prominence of the arguments (best seller status and media coverage: my, oh my, there are atheists out there lecturing and writing popular books, how can that be???!!!) rather than any “new” version of atheism as a philosophical stance, which still covers the same range of views as the “old” atheism (hard and soft atheism, agnosticism etc) covered nicely by my predecessor author, Tom Brown. Much as one might perceive a “New Evangelicals” mode among Christians as reflecting new demographic trends and political activity, not any novel take on the Bible, the New Atheists may likewise herald primarily a younger demographic than the traditional crusty old God denier of old. But that may in turn only reflect a new openness here (comparable to LGBT issues) where nonbelievers can stick their head out of the closet more readily than before without being struck by social disapproval lightning (losing jobs or friends).
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Jim,
I love that you use the “smiting” imagery in a wholly non-religious setting. It works. : )
But it is also sad that the imagery still applies. Losing jobs or friends because of non-belief cannot be easy, and I hope Spokane Faith & Values and other similar fora (forums?) will be places in which we foster dialogue, not shut it down and “unfriend” people.
Excelllent point. I believe that if there is one area that most people can (and definitely should) find common ground agreement on, across the faith and non-faith spectrum: the freedom of conscience when it comes to belief and of never being persecuted or ostracized merely on account of belief. Its the spirit of Spinoza, of genuine compassion and tolerance lived fully.
A big part of the “new atheism” is also the internet. It used to be that atheists were extremely socially isolated. Happily this is no longer the case. The early years of the new atheist movement saw a lot of emotion and energy as people began to get validated for their non-belief for the first time in their lives. Things have cooled off a bit. We are beginning to be seen as a “normal” fringe group.